They both have the same art style. Which one has more depth, playability, and overall fun?

Baldur hands down.
-depth? Diablo is hack n slash (click and smash) and while BG 1 is not the deepest of RPGs, comparing it to Diablo in this regard is just silly
-playability, well, BG is harder to learn but more tactical and rewarding. You control up to 6 characters and their abilities, but you can pause the game any time you want to give orders so it doesn't turn into a mess.
-overall fun... goes to Baldur. BG is just so much more than clicking at enemies, looting, leveling and repeating. It has an actual story, memorable characters and an atmosphere of great adventure. Not to mention that this experience can be enhanced with mods.

If you like RPGs at all you owe yourself to play this game. It isn't even that dated as some other games and the graphics are still nice, as long as you use the widescreen mod to up the resolution.

Baldur's Gate, without a doubt. Suiboon already hit all of the main reasons; I'd just add that playing in windowed mode with 1024x768 resolution works fine for me. This is good, considering Windows 7 doesn't seem to like the Infinity Engine games in fullscreen mode.

Frankly, I'd say Diablo has aged better and is a more immediately fun game. If you aren't so much a fan of CRPGs but still enjoy RPG trimmings, Diablo is the game for you. It's still great fun, highly atmospheric and features a sound amount of strategy without ever feeling overwhelming or confusing. Baldur's Gate, meanwhile, is vastly overshadowed by its sequel and features compelling but rather clunky gameplay, and is really only worth playing if you're interested in its story and characters. It also requires far more of a time investment to learn how to play it, as well was the lore. Still a great game, mind you, but it's more of a historical piece these days, important for what it did and its influence, not so much because it is timelessly fun, or a shining jewel of game design.

However, you need to be aware of some major differences between the games before simply accepting one as better than the other.

Namely, Baldur's Gate is a story-heavy open-ended RPG in which you develop a party of characters over the course of your adventures. It requires a strong knowledge of the underlying D&D game systems, as well as sound tactical play when it comes to combat. There is a good deal of exploration in a variety of environments, as well as interacting with NPCs in dialogue. Diablo, meanwhile, is an action RPG/hack and slash dungeon crawling game featuring randomly generated levels. Rather than being driven by narrative, it's driven by acquisition of loot and experience points. It focuses on single characters rather than parties, and has little in the way of NPC interaction other than for buying and selling items.

Anyway, they're both cheap, so feel free to play both of them. I just don't think the direct comparison is warranted, and don't think that the two posters above me honestly reflect the differences between the games. Which you prefer will come down to personal preference and not objective quality; to use an analogy, it's like comparing StarCraft II to Civilization V. They're both excellent titles and are both well worth playing, but they are very, very different despite occupying a similar game genre.

They have nothing in common and belong to an entirely different conception of the genre. They can't be compared.

Nothing more to add.

Both games are quite fun, though. ;)

I remember a gaming magazine (Gen4) that compared Baldur's Gate to Diablo in term of Multiplayer. They were reviewing the multiplayer component of Baldur's Gate (which in their opinion, sucks (clans (if you're new) are rather unfriendly, too many long pauses between quests preventing quick games)). To quote them (translated of course):

"After about an evening on the net, we got the feeling that Baldur's Gate is the complete opposite of Diablo: Fascinating on single-player, but quickly boring on multi-player."

Okay, I should've just posted this instead. :p

Yeah, I must have start 2 or 3 replies and deleted them in the past day. I was writing novels about how each game was a different angle on the RPG genre. I should have just posted that.

I'll note that I probably put more hours into playing Diablo and Diablo 2 than the BG series, but I enjoyed the BG series more. It's just that the Diablo had better co-op (much easier for friends to drop in and out of your games) and the exp/loot treadmill kept me interested.

I finished Diablo and most of Diablo 2. I just bought Baldur's gate from GOG like 4 or so days ago. In my personal opinion, a matter of preference maybe, Baldur's Gate by a long shot.

Diablo was mindless kill, collect, upgrade, go deeper into the dungeon. No other party members, zero story, and add to that the fact that i prefer the above ground atmosphere sometimes rather than just endless dungeon crawling deeper and deeper in more or less the same type of enviornment with slightly different layouts per level.

As has been said, they are different types of games. I enjoy a story-line, the actual role playing involved. I like the atmosphere better even regardless of that. There is far more strategy also in Baldur's gate, you have to think things through, try out different tactics and learn from mistakes how and how not to approach enemies.

Im only on chapter 3, but from my limited exposure to it, Baldur's gate hands down is the better game.

I think Diablo definitely has more depth. I mean aren't there like, 20 levels to the bottom of hell? The most BG has is 5 or so in Durlag's Tower. Definitely more depth in Diablo.

Its also more playable (point and click).

Course, BG is more fun...

:)

I kinda get angry at the comparison of the two, to be honest. I hate when people compare two different games that are barely even the same genre.....

as for these two particular games, they are both great.

Diablo is a great game to play, but when you've played it as much as me (2001-2010), you start to wonder if you are really enjoying the game, or are just wasting time. You cant play single player at all cause the game almost forces you to play multiplayer. Diablo is a multiplayer game by default. Play diablo if you want to actually play with other real people. Advantage-You can go on the internet with people from all over the world. Disadvantage-A lot of the real people you are playing with are crazy and there is slowdowns and lag.

Baldurs Gate is the complete opposite of diablo. It sacrifices almost all multiplayer for the ultimate single player experience. The story, characters are great and you can go through the game quite a few times if you like them both. The class system is very different from diablo 2's system. You can mix and match classes to make your character more adaptable. Diablo doesnt have this and instead offers a class based on a theme. Advantage-Single player experience is great, and class system is good too. Disadvantage-No multiplayer, if you play it too much its harder to get back into compared to diablo.

Thats my unbiased review. I will be honest i like both the games almost completely down the middle but lately, i see little to nothing of baldurs gate type games and the same for diablo 2. I just see a lot of clone games that may not be better, but offer things that i find very cool. (Depths of Peril)

You're asking a bunch of Baldur's Gate fans whether Diablo is better than Baldur's Gate? Never mind, I guess we're all trying to be unbiased.

As others have said, BG and Diablo can't really be compared head-to-head as they are completely different types of game. So perhaps it might come down to what type of game you prefer to play.

If you like a game with a short, shallow learning curve and immediate appeal, you'll like Diablo.
If you like a game with polished, gothic imagery, you'll like Diablo
If you want a game with a large active online community for multiplaying, go for Diablo
If you like real-time clicky combat, you'll like Diablo.

If you'd like to reproduce the flavour of tabletop role-playing, you should try BG.
If you want a game that will hold your attention in single-player mode for weeks, you'll like BG.
If you value games where the maps have been crafted by hand rather than randomly generated, you'll certainly prefer BG.
If you like turn-based combat, you'll like BG.

Dude... wait what?

>.>

BG and Diablo are NOTHING alike.

You're comparing two completely and utterly different games, you may as well be comparing Half Life to Pong.

BG is a turn-based RPG based on D&D 2E rules, with (supposedly) a real plot, character development, a party at your control, limitations, etc etc etc.

Diablo is an Action RPG, with minimal plot, no character development, just lots of stuff to kill and lots of phat l3wt!

>.> Also as an addendum to what BreathingMeat said..

If you like a game with a short, shallow learning curve and immediate appeal, you'll like Diablo, but not as much as you'll like newer action RPGs. By Comparison Diablo was outright mean.
If you like a game with polished, gothic imagery, you'll like Diablo
If you want a game with a large active online community for multiplaying, go for Diablo 2
If you like real-time clicky combat, you'll like Diablo.

If you'd like to reproduce the flavour of tabletop role-playing, complete with a DM who is out to kill you repeatedly, you should try BG.
If you want a game that will hold your attention in single-player mode for weeks, you'll like BG, but you could also like Diablo and other action RPGs. (I love them for single player :p)
If you value games where the maps have been hand crafted by a DM what is out to kill you repeatedly rather than randomly generated, you'll certainly prefer BG.
If you like turn-based combat, you'll like BG.